5 Movie Behind The Scenes (Dark) Stories

So what did he do after helping create one of the most enduring movie monsters ever? He went back to Nigeria and spent the '80s slowly succumbing to the effects of sickle cell anemia -- a hereditary disease that causes chronic, long-lasting pain and damage to organs. He finally died in 1992 at age 39, with the original Alien as his only film credit, which at least means he has a more consistent IMDb page than Ridley Scott.

Then there's the sad fate of the original Predator from Predator, Kevin Peter Hall, who stood at a well-documented 7'2'' and remains the only character in movie history to have kicked Arnold Schwarzenegger's ass in a credible manner.

After filming the second movie, Hall was in a car accident, which he survived, only to receive a blood transfusion that infected him with AIDS. Less than a year later, Hall died of complications from pneumonia. Here's hoping he's cloaked up in Heaven now, firing energy bolts at God.

Rocky says that while his son lives in Vancouver and they barely talk, he's happy that the kid is living his own life. This is especially touching when you remember the scene in 2006's Rocky Balboa when Rocky gives an inspirational speech to the adult Rocky Jr. about daring to follow his own path in life without blaming others (*cough* his famous dad *cough*) for his failures. It's all very heartfelt and meaningful ...

... except for the fact that that's not Sage in that scene. That's the scrawny dude from Heroes. Sage either turned down the role or just didn't get the call from his dad. Neither scenario is very surprising when you consider how ... rocky their relationship was. Those scenes in Rocky V wherein a young Rocky Jr. yells at his dad for never spending time with him? Sage claimed he wasn't acting. Later, Sly called him out in the media for "[avoiding] the gym like the plague" and doing weird-ass films solely to "put himself in a position in which he'll never have to be compared to me." Suddenly the Rocky Balboa speech sounds less like fatherly advice and more like bitchy passive-aggression.

Meanwhile, Sage directed a short film about some washed-up Hollywood has-been that Sly reportedly didn't like for who knows what reason. Any chance of the two patching things up ended when Sage suddenly passed away from a heart attack in 2012, at age 36. So maybe Rocky didn't want to bum Creed's kid out, and made up the thing about Vancouver.

Cage's character finally dies after making love to his prostitute paramour, which is probably symbolic of man being reborn through love or something, right? Nope! It's symbolic of the author being depressed as hell and eventually killing himself too.

The movie is based on a semi-autobiographical book by author John O'Brien, who had a similar struggle with alcohol addiction. In and out of rehab, and only precariously sober long enough to crank out the books that became his legacy, O'Brien's life was easily as dark as his fictional counterpart's. Now, you might think that hitting the big time and finding out your work is about to be adapted by an acclaimed film director would help with the whole "depression" thing, but nope. O'Brien never managed to overcome his demons, and wound up committing suicide a couple weeks after signing over the film rights to Leaving Las Vegas. Anyway, here are some bunnies.